The camera takes quite a few features from Canon’s EOS 7D, including an almost identical sensor, the selectable frame rates, and the stereo mic jack. There’s also a new wide-screen LCD and button layout to differentiate it from its T1i sibling — which will stick around on the market to pick up the poorer Canon lovers among us.

The shooter can capture 18.7 megapixel stills at 3.7 fps, with better, 7D-style light metering and an expanded ISO range of 100 to 6400. Video is even more thrilling, with the addition of 30 / 25 / 24 fps 1080p (the T1i was limited to a silly 20 fps at that resolution), along with 720p at 50 / 60 fps and VGA at similar rates. The camera can also do an ultra-zoomed “movie crop” function that actually does the cropping on the CMOS sensor to provide about 7x of additional zoom without losing quality in SD. The T2i will hit retail in March for $800, with a EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens kit at $900. PR is after the break.

As previously rumored across the net, a new Canon DSLR was announced today: the Canon T1i. The main upgrades of this camera over the XSi are the HD movie capabilities, 15.1MP CMOS sensor, and the 50D’s lens peripheral illumination correction. The new T1i is a response to Nikon D90, which was the first DSLR to shoot HD video.

Main features of the camera are H.264 video capture 1080p/20fps and 720p/30fps with mono sound, DIGIC 4 processor, nine-point autofocusing, 3.4fps burst shooting for 170 JPEGs or 9 RAW files, The 50D’s lens peripheral illumination correction, three-inch, 920,000-dot LCD (same as the 5D Mark II’s), built-in sensor dust removal system, live view, Canon’s “Creative Auto” mode for light exposure tweaks on full-auto, saves to SD/SDHC cards (class 6 or higher recommended), $899 with kit lens, $799 body only and will be available for purchase in May.

Canon T1i / 500D Advantages

Smaller, and lighter

If you plan on doing lots of hiking where weight needs to be kept to a minimum, or simply don’t relish the thought of carrying a bulky camera around, then the T1i / 500D is the logical choice.

Let’s look at some relevant figures.

Dimensions

Canon T1i / 500D: 129 x 98 x 62 mm (5.1 x 3.9 x 2.4 in)

Canon 50D: 146 x 108 x 74 mm (5.8 x 4.3 x 2.9 in)

Weight, including batteries

Canon T1i / 500D: 520 g (18.3 oz)

Canon 50D: 822 g (29 oz)
HD movie / video capture

This is an extremely useful feature to have, as you can capture high-definition clips anytime the need arises.

Certain events and happenings are certainly best recorded as video and the T1i allows you to record footage in the following formats:

1. 1920 x 1080 (1080P, 16:9) @ 20 fps
2. 1280 x 720 (720P, 16:9) @ 30 fps
3. 640 x 480 (4:3) @ 30 fps

Canon 50D Advantages

Superior burst speed

If high speed action photography is your thing, and you need to capture extremely quick sequences of photos in rapid succession, then you’ll need the 50D, as it is able to shoot at either 6.3 fps (frames per second) or 3 fps, while the T1i manages only 3.4 fps.

Part of the reason why the 50D is the faster camera is due to the difference in the number of channels that is dedicated to sensor data readout. According to Rob Galbraith’s article, “HD video capture, 15MP sensor in Canon EOS Rebel T1i”: